Pros/Cons of a long engagement

Our engagement is 18 months. Pros: We had ample time to decide what we wanted and plan. We had sufficient time to research vendors and ensure we got who we wanted. It also allowed us to space things out so it didn't ever seem like wedding planning was crazy. (well, not until this past month when things got real..)

Cons: None - other than I just really want to be married - like yesterday. That, and I got really tired of people saying, why are you waiting so long?!

1.5 years isn't really abnormal. Sounds like the right amount of time. Having a longer engagement will give you time to save money, time to get to know each other better, and time to finish school and get secure jobs. It's also a lot less stressful Ours is 13 months and I feel like the time if flying by. I think it's fun just being engaged and being "the bride". Someday when it's all done, I wondering if I'll look back and wish our engagement had of been longer just because it's fun planning a wedding. At the same time, I have my days where I just wish it would hurry up because it's a lot of money and energy spent on one day.

An 18 month engagement is NOT all that long of an engagement anymore. Typically you'll get that kind of feedback from people who are much older and used to get married after 6-8 months on the long end. You'll find most venues, photographers, and videographers start to get booked up 18-24 months in advance.

We had a two and a half year engagement and booked our venue 20+ months out and got the last Saturday available in May. Getting engaged, kind of like having kids, means that people suddenly feel like they can share all their opinions with you and you just have to take it. I would get acquainted with having their comments roll off of you.

I think... couples should get engaged when the time is right for them and they should marry when the time is right for them too. Whether that means an 8 year relationship ship and 2 year engagement (that's my case, we've been together since I was 16) or a 6 month relationship and a 6 month engagement- or anything in between.

There will ALWAYS be people (even close relatives and friends) there to criticize you and tell you how they'd do it differently or better. Screw them. You two do what's right for you two.

Definitely see your point on the "con", I got engaged two weeks before final exams and spent way too much time on Pinterest instead of studying! I'm just too excited!

I didn't think it was abnormal either, and we've already ran into the problem of a couple venues being book 2 years in advance! I couldn't believe how many people brought up the amount of time, that's what made me start wondering. Most of them were older, though.

My fiance and I are waiting 2 years. We got engaged in August of 2015 and we just now booked our venue. Its taken some time but its nice to be able to save up the money and make sure we are doing exactly what we want to do w/o being stressed to make decisions.

9 month engagement for us! Waiting probably would've been a sounder financial choice, but everything lined up and worked for us to get married this summer, and we just couldn't wait! I wanted to enjoy being engaged, and I am, but I didn't want it to wear off and I just couldn't not plan a wedding.

18 months is definitely a good length though!

We are having a 22 month engagement. The pro is being able to save and have everything we want and not have to worry about scrimping in a short time frame. The con is waiting 22 months lol. The anticipation is the worst! Wanting to get things done but still having 13 months left.

I have an 18 month engagement too. Just hit the 365 day mark. The time goes much quicker than you think, believe me! But still it seems impossible to wait another year to be married. We've been together for 11 years already so what's one more...but I desperately just want to be married already!!

We'll have a 15 month engagement when we marry this August. Honestly, I don't have any cons besides I've wanted to be married like yesterday. We built a house and moved last year, so we needed the time to save money, spread out payments, and reduce stress. Now that we hit double digits next week, it really hasn't seemed THAT long.

We had a 14-month engagement. To get the season we wanted, we had to have either a 2-month engagement or a 14-month engagement. Two months seemed a bit extreme!

My engagement is 1 yr and 9 months.

PROS- I had more time to plan and walk through this step by step, more time to flash m gorgeous engagement ring, more time to feel the excitement and not feel pressured trying to plan a wedding in a couple months.

CONS- Having that much time to plan, i changed my mind a million times haha and I can't wait to marry my bestfriend! I want to be with him!

But in all, i don't regret one bit and im super happy and excited to be marrying the man of my dreams in August 2016!

PRO- more time to save, more time to plan, more time to live in the excitement!

CON- You never know what will happen. We got engaged September 2014, planned for an October 2015 wedding, January 2015 FH was diagnosed with cancer so we moved the wedding to October 2016. Life happens!

Been engaged for 3 and half years! But have been together for almost 7 years.

There is no con to longer engagements. Except you might keep putting it off and it gets harder to plan the more life happens-as in we had just purchased a house a year before. Got engaged and then 3 months later found out I was pregnant.

We put off the wedding because honestly we didn't feel the rush. We needed to save money anyways and I needed to get my body back after my son.

Pros: You can save money, really plan your wedding- this helps especially when you're doing it on a budget, and can do your research on venues and other wedding related providers.

-It also gives you time to work out any issues/problems that may come up. You just get to know each other better.

Cons- None! Except if you keep putting the wedding off, it can keep going on like that for years! That's why we decided to finally just do it. We saved enough money for a small wedding & reception and I finally lost the baby weight-no more excuses to wait!

Ours will be 18 months by the time we get married. I don't think that's considered a long engagement. Multiple vendors were already booked for my wedding date when I reached out in January...a year and a half before my wedding date.

That's not a long engagement.. Pretty standard these days. Ours will be about 2 years. I wanted to get married this summer but it would have been super stressful. Basically one year exact to book everything. I wanted to enjoy being engaged as well.

Jeff and I met when I was a freshman in college and he a senior. We dated for 2 years before he proposed. At that time, I was a sophomore/junior going for a bachelors degree. He was a senior moving onto a doctorate. I wanted to get married ASAP. He wanted to wait 2 years and one of us out of school, making a livable wage and having insurance. We fought. To me, "Love would find a way." To him, .... well, I still think we could have pulled it off BUT it would have been MUCH more stressful.

In your hearts, do what's best for you in all arenas of married life. That includes the practical stuff like insurance and savings accounts. I hate to admit it but Jeff was right. We needed to wait to get married until certain "ducks were in a row".

When you are with the one, spend your time wisely and all will be well.

So ... Kristen ... to answer your question ... ! ...

Pros of a 2 year engagement - saved and paid for our own wedding and honeymoon. Everything was bought and paid for prior to the wedding. The last 3 months before the wedding was a breeze. The day of? ... the salon had no record of any of my appointments (hair, nails and makeup) even though I confirmed the week before. Although we gave our Best Man envelopes full of cash to pay off the remaining balance of all of our vendors, those vendors still had to seek us out. Pay vendors up front. We spent too much time with this. We chose vendors whose work we loved, built a relationship with, and trusted them. Having them approach us the day of our wedding was a bummer.

Cons of a 2 year engagement - IMO it's 2 less years that I've been married to Jeff. The guilt of "illegal sex" could have been put to rest sooner!

My engagement is 2 years. It does feel like a long time away. But it's allowing me to plan the wedding stress free. We're making payments towards the venue that we've already picked. I'm also in school full time and working. So this allows me to do some wedding stuff little at a time. Each month I focus on one item to accomplish.